From writer Steve kim of MAXBOXING:
Can Juarez Finally Nab a Title?
NEEDS MONEY
The word around town was that in the wake of his rib 'injury' that Floyd Mayweather met with Don King last week, for whatever reason. It wasn't long ago that Mayweather talked of being a billionaire. Well, I guess the economy has affected even this young would-be mogul.
A couple of sources tell me that while Juan Manuel Marquez got his purse guaranteed for July 18th ($4 million, of which 3.2 million went to Marquez, the rest to Golden Boy Promotions), with Mayweather being the promoter of this event in association with GBP, that he was on the hook for things like 24/7, the press tour, the undercard and any other costs that are normally expensed to the promotion. I was told earlier that he was guaranteed $15 million. That simply isn't so, said one source, because it that were true - he'd be going through with this fight, regardless. But as the promoter, he is/was taking the financial risk.
Mayweather and his crew had hoped to make a few more bucks on this fight by scalping their tickets on the secondary market, but when those didn't sell to the public, another revenue source dried up.
Then I'm told that there are outstanding issues like the $3 million loaned to him by his adviser, Al Haymon, the money he owes two jewelers (said to be in upwards of $2.5 million) and the remaining issues with the IRS (where it's been reported he owes more than $6 million and I'm pretty sure they would have been very interested observers of what took place on July 18th).
Add that all up, and if that fight would've taken place on July 18th and it didn't do in excess of 500,000 buys (and there's a good chance it wouldn't have), then Mayweather was looking at the prospect of fighting, if not for free, but for very little.
Good thing he has Philthy Rich Records, though.
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